Having spent seven nights on the wild Botswana side of the Kgalagadi, it was time for us to head to Nossob to restock with provisions and fuel for the next leg of our trip, which was the Mabuasehube area. We were very excited about the Mabua leg as Jon and Hillary had, on their last visit, watched in amazement as a pride of lions trashed their belongings in their campsite. (They say the young lions were probably just being playful, but such a close encounter was an enormous adrenalin rush for them – we hoped to have a similar experience.)
Nossob is a big camp on the South African side of the Nossob River. It’s a relatively short drive from Polentswa (58kms) and the road follows the dry river bed the whole way there. Apart from the amazing birdlife en route we came across our first lion sighting at the Cubitje Quap watering hole – a lone young lioness, who looked a bit battle-scarred but who was obviously hot and hungry and hoping to catch one of the wildebeest taking a drink.
When she plonked herself down in the shade beneath Jon’s car door, we had to wait until she made a half-hearted attempt at stalking the wildebeest before we moved on.
We much prefer the Botswana campsites without any facilities, but I have to admit that it was a treat to have two good long hot showers and to be able to wash our clothes. The campsite was practically full (mainly with pensioners) and we were able to glean some information from others who had just arrived from Mabuasehube. To our dismay, we learnt that there were no lions to be seen there as a sickness had wiped them all out. We were heartened to hear that grass seeds didn’t pose a problem on the road.
Although we hadn’t been overly keen to stay at the busy Nossob campsite, it proved to be very enjoyable after all. We took advantage of the small swimming pool to cool off from the relentless March heat. Even the resident squirrels were hot. They would sprawl out on the ground and then use their front paws to scrape cool sand over their backs. Their burrows were quite a menace – I almost broke my neck when I stepped into one in the dark.
We found the animal hide overlooking the Nossob watering hole to be amazing. Rob practically took up residence in there and managed to add some wonderful pictures to his bird and animal photo collection. He will blog about the falcons that had us enthralled with their skill at catching other birds. Incidentally, SAN Parks have a web cam trained on the watering hole at Nossob and this can be seen on-line at any time (if it is working).
Although it is fenced off and security is tight, there are many birds and animals in the Nossob campsite itself. We photographed both these owls in the same tree.
The shop at Nossob is expensive but perfect for stocking up with provisions. One can even buy fresh home baked bread rolls (at an exorbitant price) and there is fuel for the vehicles.
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